Shuffling 2: Stain Her, Mess Her Up.
“Cen, Cen Zhixu?”
Startled, Pei Yuan scrambled forward, half-kneeling by Cen Zhixu’s side. With one arm hooked around Cen Zhixu’s shoulder blades and the other propping herself against the ground, she carefully scooped the woman up into her arms.
Cen Zhixu offered not a shred of resistance, melting softly into Pei Yuan’s embrace following the motion.
The person in her arms was so hot.
So soft.
Pei Yuan dazed for a fraction of a second.
Leaning against her shoulder, Cen Zhixu’s silver hair spilled outward, cascading all the way down Pei Yuan’s forearm, cool, fine, and slick like spilled moonlight.
The moonlight flowed across her palms, making the scorching temperature in her arms all the more vivid and alarming.
“Ms. Cen?” Pei Yuan gently shook her shoulder, her movements extremely light. “Are you alright?”
Cen Zhixu’s eyes remained closed, offering no reply.
The figure in her arms trembled, waves of heat blooming inch by inch between her arms. Her normally pale skin flushed with a thin, dazzling crimson.
Her neat shirt collar was soaked through with sweat, clinging tightly to her chest. A small, vibrant red mole sat near her collarbone, rising and falling with each breath.
Pei Yuan snapped her gaze away in an instant.
She mentally cursed herself in a whisper: Where are you looking? Where the hell are you looking? This is no time for that!
Yet that wisp of white iris fragrance refused to let her go, clinging to her stubbornly and burning her finger bones numb.
Pei Yuan tried calling out to her a few more times.
It took Cen Zhixu a long time to claw a shred of sanity back from the chaos and heat.
Her long eyelashes fluttered slightly, and after a moment, she slowly opened her eyes.
Her grayish-blue eyes were flooded with mist, moisture shimmering within them like a pair of gems set in white velvet, gorgeous and dazzling.
“Pei Yuan?”
Her voice was terribly raspy. First came surprise, followed by a trace of a smile. “Really.”
“How pathetic, isn’t it?”
Turning her head slightly, Cen Zhixu spoke in a nonchalant tone: “You really picked the worst possible time to arrive.”
“Or perhaps, the perfect time?”
Gazing at her with a droplet of moisture clinging to her long eyelashes, Cen Zhixu’s ending notes carried a smile, indulging her, letting her be.
She murmured: “Hold me.”
Pei Yuan’s gaze instinctively drifted elsewhere, to the left, to the right, deep into the garage, anything to avoid landing on Cen Zhixu.
Cen Zhixu said flatly: “The wheelchair isn’t in the car. You’ll have to carry me back.”
Pei Yuan gave a dry laugh. “Right, right, right. Officer, I will do my best.”
For reasons unknown, the title “Officer” seemed to please Cen Zhixu.
“Mhm, be a good girl.”
Nuzzling close to the curve of Pei Yuan’s ear, she let out a soft laugh. Her breathy voice was ground down by the heat, wrapped around cartilage, burning and ticklish.
Pei Yuan had never carried an Omega before.
The closest experience she had was dragging a dead-drunk Mole by one arm, totally unbothered that the other’s face was scraping the floor, all the way from the tavern back to the car.
Carrying an entirely limp adult woman whose pheromones were in complete disarray was genuinely a first.
Pei Yuan bit her lip and heroically psyched herself up:
Stay steady, stay steady. Do not forget you’re here to steal the Eye of Order. You’re ruthless, iron-willed, and you cannot let some pretty lady steal your soul!
Exhaling, Pei Yuan bent down, slipping one arm under the bends of Cen Zhixu’s knees while supporting her back with the other.
She scooped her up horizontally.
Cen Zhixu sank into her embrace like a pool of warm water. Her waist melted into the gaps of Pei Yuan’s fingers, her shoulder blades rising and falling shallowly against her palm.
Lifting her hands, she looped them around Pei Yuan’s neck, pulling herself closer and closer.
Closer, and closer still.
Sinking deep into Pei Yuan’s arms.
Pei Yuan had to admit it: whatever thoughts she had about the Eye of Order or her undercover mission had long since flown out the window.
Her entire body was taut, her arms stiff, not even daring to look down at the woman in her arms, something Cen Zhixu clearly noticed.
“Relax a little, Pei Yuan.”
Nuzzling against her chest with lowered eyelashes, Cen Zhixu offered a faint smile. “I’m not that fragile.”
Pei Yuan’s throat tightened.
She already had no idea whether she should hold tighter or loosen her grip, and being told that only made her even more clueless about where to put her hands.
The scent of iris was right at her fingertips, saturated and intensified by the moisture, thick, soft, and obscure.
Cen Zhixu burrowed further into her arms, her voice muffled against Pei Yuan’s collarbone, thin, carrying a hint of a nasal twinge: “Take the Number 3 elevator.”
Pei Yuan gave a dry acknowledgment.
The White Tower had at least fifty or sixty elevators, if not more, with strict divisions regarding functions, zones, and destination floors.
When commuting for work, Pei Yuan typically used the higher-numbered elevators, but she had occasionally heard her colleagues chatting about the others.
The ones with lower serial numbers were reserved for internal staff and upper management, operating on a completely separate set of security clearances to prevent classified data leaks.
Oddly enough, the moment Pei Yuan walked in carrying Cen Zhixu, before she could even scan her iris or fingerprint, the elevator doors slid open automatically in front of them.
It was as if someone had seen them and thoughtfully pressed the button on their behalf.
Carrying her, Pei Yuan stepped sideways into the cabin.
The iris fragrance was sealed inside this cramped metal box with nowhere to escape, spreading outward inch by inch.
The elevator ascended in silence. The metal walls reflected their intertwined silhouettes, blurry and intimate, resembling an aged oil painting.
Pressing against Pei Yuan’s shoulder, her body burning hot, Cen Zhixu intentionally or unintentionally brushed her nose against the side of Pei Yuan’s neck.
A slow, deliberate brush.
Ticklish.
The warm breath halted, resembling a hibernating little creature that had found a cozy spot and curled up to stay put.
Daring neither to look down nor move around, Pei Yuan could only keep her arms stiff and hold her more securely.
Yet her proximity was far too intimate, close enough to make even her earlobes burn.
Fortunately, this was an internal elevator, and fortunately, nobody else was heading upstairs at this late hour, allowing them to reach the top floor without encountering a single soul.
Otherwise, Pei Yuan genuinely had no idea how she would explain why a scruffy, low-ranking employee like her was suddenly getting all cozy with the big boss.
The elevator glided to a smooth stop.
The door locks clicked open automatically, and warm lighting flooded out, spilling over the plush carpeting.
Walking over to the living room sofa, Pei Yuan bent down and deposited Cen Zhixu onto it.
As the person in her arms departed, her arm slid away from the back of Pei Yuan’s neck, her fingertips dragging lightly across her collar and tugging at it just before dropping away.
Her touch was feather-light, yet it left a thin, cool-burning trail all the way from Pei Yuan’s earlobe down to her collarbone.
Pei Yuan’s earlobes abruptly caught fire, and she instinctively took a small half-step back, her heels sinking too deeply into the plush carpet as she nearly lost her footing.
“I will go pour you some water?”
She rasped out the question.
Despite the air conditioning running indoors, Pei Yuan inexplicably felt hot. Needless to say, she was definitely sweating and probably looked a complete mess.
Leaning against the sofa, Cen Zhixu hooked a finger at her collar in an effort to loosen it, but failing to undo the button, she lazily slumped back. “Mhm.”
Pei Yuan practically fled the scene.
Pulling the bathroom door shut behind her, she cranked the faucet open and splashed cold water onto her face, barely managing to suppress the unseemly heat on her cheeks.
Water droplets dripped down. Wiping her face, Pei Yuan straightened up and met her own reflection in the mirror.
Only then did she notice that her collar had been pulled somewhat loose from that previous tug, exposing a firm stretch of collarbone and neck, with messy creases marring the fabric.
She hadn’t even done anything, yet no matter how she looked at it, it reeked of guilty, guilty disarray.
Pei Yuan, oh Pei Yuan, you are truly hopeless!
Staring at those telltale marks for two seconds, she silently cursed herself.
After undergoing a profound internal reflection, Pei Yuan turned and headed to the kitchen. When she emerged, she was holding a cup of warm water.
Cen Zhixu was half-reclined on the sofa. As she raised a hand to accept the cup, both her wristbones and knuckles were blindingly white.
Lowering her head, she took a small sip, then used the tip of her tongue to lightly lick away a stray droplet clinging to the rim of the cup before raising her gaze to Pei Yuan, her voice soft and sweet: “Pei Yuan.”
Cen Zhixu inched half an inch toward the edge of the sofa, bracing herself against the armrest as she leaned forward: “Come closer.”
Having kicked off her boots outside the door, her toes were encased in thin silk, curling slightly to hook around Pei Yuan’s ankle.
“I don’t want to sleep on the sofa.” Nuzzling against her softly, she murmured, “Carry me to the bedroom.”
“Okay,” Pei Yuan’s eyes darted away. “Wait a second, let me go look for the suppressants.”
Cen Zhixu shot her a glance. “I knew it. I spent two nights writing that contract, and you didn’t read a single word carefully.”
Pei Yuan: “…”
If she could actually read that brick-thick contract word for word without missing a thing, she could kick Mole out and become the team’s information tech specialist herself.
Pei Yuan offered a weak defense: “It’s not like I completely didn’t read it. I read about two or three clauses.”
Naturally, that cohabitation contract Cen Zhixu had provided wasn’t just a physical printout; the electronic version had long since landed in Pei Yuan’s inbox courtesy of the little assistant.
Too bad that email was still quietly resting in its original spot, marked as “Unread” to this very day.
Muttering under her breath, Pei Yuan bent down, intending to pick Cen Zhixu back up.
To her surprise, Cen Zhixu beat her to it by raising a hand to hook around her neck.
Sliding her arm around, she tightened her grip on the back of Pei Yuan’s neck, pulling her downward by a fraction of an inch.
Lifting her chin, Cen Zhixu pressed her lips against Pei Yuan’s jawline, nuzzling her like a little cat. “Absurd.”
“Be a good girl, hold me tighter.”
Her breathy voice drilled straight into Pei Yuan’s ear canal, warm, damp, and soft, with a layer of fatigue masking undisguised intimacy.
Pei Yuan’s mind went blank for a split second, rendering her completely oblivious to the system’s prompt: Intimate behavior detected, entered dormancy state.
Every shred of sensation in her body seemed to have been dragged over to that small, scorching puff of air beside her ear.
After a long moment, Pei Yuan slowly, sluggishly brought her fingers up to the buttons of Cen Zhixu’s collar.
The collar parted slightly.
Her long silver hair wound around Pei Yuan’s finger bones, smooth and cool, as Pei Yuan brushed it aside.
The hair slipped away to reveal a length of porcelain-white, slender neck. The vertebrae protruded one by one, and further down sat a tiny gland.
That was an Omega’s most vulnerable spot, as well as the source of their most alluring sweetness.
She was presenting a shelled, dewy, irresistibly sweet lychee straight under the predator’s sharp fangs.
The scent of iris washed over them, lingering, wrapping stickily around every single one of Pei Yuan’s senses.
Lowering her head, Pei Yuan felt the heat wash over her first, brushing past the back of her neck and enveloping her.
Cen Zhixu shivered, her back and shoulders tensing while her arms locked tighter around Pei Yuan’s neck.
She was so sensitive.
Pei Yuan thought.
Instead of rushing ahead, Pei Yuan opted to graze the edge of the gland with the tip of her nose instead.
“Mnn.”
Cen Zhixu clung to her. Unable to see her expression, Pei Yuan could only feel her voice landing against her collarbone.
Disordered, fragmented little gasps. The white iris was drenched through by rain, sending waves of fragrance surging forth.
Pulling back slightly, Pei Yuan pressed a kiss to the left side of the gland, then the right, and finally lower down, right against the protruding bone of the cervical spine.
Dense, slow, and patient kisses, one after another.
“Wait.”
The fingers gripping her collar turned white as Cen Zhixu’s breathing spiraled out of control, tumbling entirely into Pei Yuan’s neck.
Without stopping, Pei Yuan leisurely lingered her lips along the periphery of the gland.
She licked her own lips, moistened them, and pressed down again, leaving a small, damp trace.
Cool.
Cen Zhixu let out a muffled groan, forcibly swallowing it back down herself.
Her lips gave way to the tip of her tongue. The warm, soft, and yielding asset licked across the outer skin of the gland, tracing it with meticulous, lingering sweeps.
Cen Zhixu shrank backward, only to be reeled back in by her embrace with nowhere left to run, sinking even deeper into the crook of her arms.
“Pei Yuan, enough.”
Cen Zhixu finally spoke, her voice raspy and soft, her ending notes trembling. “Stop messing around.”
Despite saying that, she gripped Pei Yuan even tighter, ragged pants staining the side of her neck as she wetly nuzzled against her.
The alpha’s canine teeth rested against the back of her neck, snagging and grinding against that reddened patch of skin with patient repetition.
Cen Zhixu lost all ability to speak, her breathy noises turning an absolute mess. “Nn, cough, cough.”
Lingering sweat beaded on her forehead, and grabbing Pei Yuan’s collar, she tried pushing outward.
Even though she was clearly exerting force, she failed to put so much as half an inch of distance between them.
“Honestly, disobedient.”
Lifting her chin, lips bitten red and eyes tinged with a near-helpless allure at the outer corners, Cen Zhixu reached up to re-hook the back of Pei Yuan’s neck, gently pecking her earlobe. “Be good.”
“Little puppy, bite me.”
Pei Yuan abruptly paused. Wrapping her finger bones around Cen Zhixu’s waistline, she slowly tightened her grip, pulling her deeper into her embrace.
Pressing against the side of Cen Zhixu’s neck, she lowered a heavy, sinking breath, lingering right against that spot that shouldn’t be touched for long.
Her palm slid up Cen Zhixu’s back, tracing from her shoulder blades all the way down to her lower back, kneading slowly.
Then, her teeth pressed down on that small, warm patch of thin redness on the back of her neck.
And bit down hard.
“Nng!”
Whatever lingering strength Cen Zhixu was barely maintaining vanished in an instant, and her entire body lost its support, sinking entirely between Pei Yuan’s arms.
The canine teeth pierced the gland, and the scent of white iris spilled out without reservation, crushed petals, snapped stems, a fragile, unharvested greenness.
Alpha pheromones bled past the broken wound, washing inward inch by inch. Citrus and throat-burning alcohol mingled with the gravel and wind of the wasteland beyond the city walls.
“Nn, Pei Yuan.”
Biting her lip, Cen Zhixu buried herself deeper into her arms, rubbing her nose against Pei Yuan’s neck. “Bite lighter, lighter.”
Lowering her gaze, Pei Yuan saw her buried in her embrace, earlobes brilliantly red, cheeks flushed, the back of her neck glowing and hot to the touch.
Cen Zhixu slumped against her chest, her consciousness hazy as she mindlessly nuzzled against her.
From her earlobes to her jaw and down to her collarbone, a dense string of small marks blurred together, leaving it impossible to tell whether they were sweat, tears, or stray pants spilling from her lips.
Her sounds emerged out of tune and broken, reduced to crushed, tiny tremors.
Biting down on her teeth, Cen Zhixu occasionally let slip half a syllable before instantly swallowing it back down, stubbornly refusing to let Pei Yuan hear.
Their two pheromones intertwined within the span of an inch, tangled and locked together. Wine sank into the flower, while the flower seeped into the wine, sticky and virtually inseparable.
Trembling violently, Cen Zhixu’s shoulders shook, her waistline shuddered finely beneath Pei Yuan’s palm, and her knees gave out entirely.
Pei Yuan tightened the arm around her waist to keep her from sliding down her embrace.
“Relax a bit, Officer,” she rasped. “You’re way too tense.”
Cen Zhixu’s retaliation took the form of a vicious bite on Pei Yuan’s neck, her teeth sinking into the soft flesh as she ground them in vented frustration.
A temporary mark was, at the end of the day, merely a brief overlay of pheromones. The more an Omega resisted, the tighter the gland would instinctively clamp shut, rejecting foreign pheromones.
Only by relaxing and allowing the alpha pheromones to truly permeate could the disorder gradually subside.
Pausing, Pei Yuan rubbed her lips against the tip of her ear. “Otherwise, you’re the one who’s going to suffer for it in the end.”
Slumped in her arms with her breathing in absolute disarray, Cen Zhixu still managed to squeeze out a breathy laugh upon hearing those words.
“You’ve certainly learned how to throw my words back at me.”
With wet eyelashes and reddened eyes, her voice raspy yet still clinging to her trademark composure, she murmured, “Getting bolder, aren’t you?”
Holding her close and inhaling the white iris scent continuously blooming from the back of her neck, its petals curling open to release an even richer sweetness, Pei Yuan let the alpha pheromones seep in as gently as possible past the tooth marks.
Though Pei Yuan had exercised utmost restraint, it was still far too forceful for an Omega, leaving her no room to dodge or refuse.
Trembling a few times, Cen Zhixu lost her last shred of sustaining strength and drifted into a complete blackout.
Resting against Pei Yuan’s shoulder with flushed cheeks and long eyelashes still damp with moisture, she looked unexpectedly well-behaved.
Her silver hair spilled outward, messily tangling with Pei Yuan’s forearm and collar.
The temporary mark was over.
Yet Pei Yuan did not immediately let go.
The white iris scent continued to waft outward in waves, though its previous sharpness and loss of control had been smoothed away by her, turning soft and damp.
This wasn’t the temporary calm forced upon her by suppressants, but rather a sense of fulfillment and satiety welling up from deep within the gland.
Pei Yuan buried her face in the crook of her neck.
Inhaling the gland covered by alpha pheromones, her chest was utterly scrambled, heat spreading outward until it throbbed with fullness.
The subtle, faint fragrance drilled straight up her nose, teasing her and tempting her to draw closer.
Deeper still.
Closing her eyes, Pei Yuan forcefully suppressed her instincts, gathering her in her arms and waiting for the chaotic atmosphere to gradually subside.
Cen Zhixu woke up in bed.
Her eyelids fluttered twice before a brilliant expanse of white flooded her vision, out of which she hazily identified the sky.
A clear, pristine blue sky where fluffy clouds drifted lazily, while the breeze pouring in from the half-open window fluttered white sheer curtains.
Sunlight streamed into the room, carpeting the edge of the bed and the back of her hand in a warm, radiant glow.
Cen Zhixu froze for a moment.
Memories surfaced in fragments like water-logged paper with blurred edges.
The back of her neck throbbed faintly, and her head felt heavy. Bracing herself against the mattress beneath her, she tried to sit up.
Then, something stopped her.
Pausing, Cen Zhixu lowered her head to discover an arm wrapped securely around her waist. Warm and solid, it locked her firmly in place.
Cen Zhixu: “?”
Pushing against her to no avail, Cen Zhixu instead found a furry head leaning closer, resting its chin against the side of her neck.
Black curls scattered across her shoulder, tangling with her silver hair and brushing against her collarbone with a ticklish sensation.
“Officer, you’re awake?”
Turning her face, Cen Zhixu caught Pei Yuan blinking a pair of bright, innocent large eyes, wearing her signature honest-citizen, dopey smile.
She was always like this, smiling with an innocent front while god knows what wicked schemes were running through her head. She was rotten to the core.
Cen Zhixu lifted her eyelashes.
Reaching out, she pressed her fingertips against Pei Yuan’s shoulder, pushing her backward with moderate force:
“Get lost.”
“Don’t cling to me like this,” Cen Zhixu said flatly. “It’s too hot.”
Looking deeply wronged, Pei Yuan rolled away.
Of course, no sooner had she rolled away than she quietly rolled back, armed this time with a cup of warm water and a warm towel.
Sitting on the edge of the bed with a frown, Cen Zhixu tugged at her shirt.
Her neat shirt had been tortured beyond recognition, its top two buttons undone to reveal a lingering flush on her neck.
Her silver hair fell around her shoulders, several strands dampened by sweat and clinging to her collarbone as her chest rose and fell slightly.
Sitting there with a calm expression, her features were pressed with a hint of vague discomfort.
Yet precisely because of that, the usual neatness and orderliness were shaved down by a few degrees, making it impossible to tear one’s eyes away.
Pei Yuan’s steps ground to a sudden halt.
In her mind, only a single absurd yet crystal-clear thought remained: She did this.
She messed up Cen Zhixu. She stained her.
The disarray, the dampness, the pathetic traces left along her collar, the side of her neck, and the tips of her hair, every single one was a mark she had left with her own hands.
Pei Yuan’s heartbeat scrambled. Though she was merely standing at the door holding a cup of water and a towel, she inexplicably felt the guilt of someone caught red-handed after doing something wicked.
Beyond that guilt surged another more dangerous, covert emotion that she didn’t dare dissect or dwell upon.
Giving a cough, Pei Yuan forcefully dragged her gaze away from Cen Zhixu and walked over to hand her the warm towel.
Taking it, Cen Zhixu pressed her face into the towel, wiping away the stickiness from her neck.
Once finished, she tossed the towel back to Pei Yuan and turned sideways toward the mirror on the vanity.
Lifting her long hair, the mirror reflected a patch of coy, snowy skin at the back of her neck, surrounded by mottled bite marks around the gland that burned a vivid red.
In truth, Pei Yuan hadn’t dared to use any real force.
Even at her most out-of-control moment, her canine teeth had only embedded themselves shallowly, not daring to go a fraction deeper.
It was simply that the skin at the back of the neck was too thin and delicate, a few restrained strokes had dissolved into a mess.
The bitten gland was a striking, provocative red, like smeared rouge blooming thinly and gleaming wetly.
The longer she looked, the less innocent it seemed.
While Cen Zhixu studied herself in the mirror, failing to notice Pei Yuan setting down the warm water and quietly slipping away,
Pei Yuan returned carrying a tray bearing a glass of orange juice, a glass of milk, a cup of ginger tea, and a mug of honey water floating a lemon slice.
Cen Zhixu shot her a glance.
Inner drumbeats hammering away under that gaze, Pei Yuan lowered her head and busied herself arranging the cups on the nightstand like a bustling busybody.
Rolling her sleeves up to her elbows, she bared a stretch of firm, neatly streamlined forearms.
Her finger bones gripped the brims of the cups, the backs of her hands covered by a thin layer of skin, stark bone lines partially hiding a few pale-blue veins.
Cen Zhixu lowered her eyelashes slightly.
Amidst the loss of control, she had pressed close to this very body, her palm gliding all the way from her spine down to her waist.
She remembered how it felt beneath her palm: tight, gorgeous shoulders, a narrow yet powerful waist packed with undeniable strength.
Cen Zhixu turned her head away.
The alpha’s pheromones wrapped densely around her, resembling a humid, feverish mist that refused to dissipate.
Her neck was burning, her collarbone was burning, and even deep within her body lingered a persistent, damp heat that stirred a sense of irritability with nowhere to escape.
Cen Zhixu bit her lip lightly.
She lowered her head, brought her knees together, and crossed her legs, pressing them tightly and firmly against each other, rubbing together in a soft, measured friction.
On the other side, Pei Yuan was still pretending to be busy. Fiddling with a stack of drinking glasses, she failed to notice Cen Zhixu’s momentary anomaly.
“Pei Yuan.”
Cen Zhixu suddenly called out to her.
Pei Yuan turned around in a hurry to find Cen Zhixu lifting her long hair, exposing that small patch of messy red as she looked at her meaningfully.
“Look, the bite mark you left,” Cen Zhixu said. “Sharp-toothed and ungrateful.”
Pei Yuan’s hand jerked, nearly knocking over the honey water as she stammered in defense: “T-this isn’t this Officer’s order?”
Cen Zhixu curved her brows and kicked her playfully: “Backtalking again.”
Her toe landed against the outer side of Pei Yuan’s calf, brushing lightly across the thin layer of fabric with a subtle, tickling itch.
“Help me to the bathroom,” she stretched out a hand toward Pei Yuan, lifting her long eyelashes. “You started this mess, so you should learn to clean it up.”
How did I start a mess?
Pei Yuan felt deeply wronged.
The diligent, hardworking cleaning machine was turned on once more, puttering around the living room and burying itself in work.
Cen Zhixu finished washing up quickly.
The sound of running water ceased for a moment, and the bathroom door pushed open, the steam rushing out laden with iris fragrance.
Pei Yuan was in the living room studying the cleaning machine’s operating principles, poking at its outer shell, when she heard Cen Zhixu’s voice calling down from upstairs:
“Pei Yuan, Pei Yuan.”
Natural and practiced, like calling a puppy.